Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Money where the mouth is

A few weeks ago, I was one of five people dining in a tent set up in the
gardens of Al Wajba Palace in the Qatari capital, Doha. My dinner companions
were the ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thany, his wife, Sheikha
Moza, daughter of Nasser el Mosnad, Sheikh Hamad bin Jabr al-Thany, foreign
minister of Qatar and Dr. Saadudin Ibrahim. The dinner, and the animated
conversation that accompanied it, lasted more than four hours, during which
time the only person to enter the tent was a man who came in no less than six
times. I assumed he must be either the Emir’s secretary or his intelligence
chief, because each time he would whisper something in the Emir’s ear,
listen to the reply and leave - only to come back and repeat the same
scenario.

The third time he entered the tent, I asked the foreign minister whether I
was right in thinking he was Sheikh Hamad’s’ secretary. When he told me I
was wrong I said: “Then he must be the director of the intelligence service.”
Again I had guessed wrongly: the man in question was none other than Waddah
Khanfar, the director of Al Jazeera! I could only conclude that the TV
channel, which costs the Emir of Qatar one billion dollars a year of his own
money, is his number one priority. Moreover, the annual subsidy it receives
from the Qatari treasury is equivalent to the military aid furnished by the
United States to the largest Arab army.

So central is Al-Jazeera in the Emir’s scheme of things that Mr. Khanfar,
a Palestinian who was formerly a member of Hamas, ranks as high in the country’s
hierarchical structure as the prime minister, the grand chamberlain and the
head of intelligence. Perhaps even higher, judging by the way he was allowed
to barge into the Emir’s tent six times in the space of four hours. I heard
later that a famous Egyptian writer whom the Emir consults regularly told him
he should think of closing down Qatar before thinking of closing down Al-Jazeera
(!), a backhanded compliment if ever there was one. Over dinner, Sheikh Hamad
told me his foreign policy is based on the following simple principles. One,
Qatar is small in both area and population. Two, it is surrounded by three
thugs (the closest English translation to the Arabic word abadaya that he
used). He decided to seek the protection of the biggest thug in the world, the
United States, and invited its forces over, at his expense, to guard his tiny
sheikhdom from its covetous neighbours.

I told him that while I understood what had driven him to take such a
decision, I could not see where Al-Jazeera fitted into an equation based
exclusively on interests. He launched into a long response the gist of which
was that he enjoyed a game in which the number of heads of state who called
him to complain about Al-Jazeera was far greater than those who called him for
any other reason! However, I felt he was being disingenuous. I believe the
calculations of the ruling Qatari triumvirate are taking into account some
events that have already transpired, like the 1995 uprising, and others that
are brewing under the surface but have yet to emerge in the open. However, I
can guess what form these developments will take and the effects they will
have. I can also bet that they will be far greater in scope than the 1995
uprising.

Commentary

In a world where the basic peace is kept by "the biggest thug in the
world" what is the best use of a foreign country's marginal defense dollar?
Is it the purchase of more military hardware or an investment in information
weaponry? Or is it the hire of the best Washington lobbyists that money can buy? And consider: there is no American equivalent of Al Jazeera. Or a BBC.

63 Comments:

There used to be a rough American equivalent called the U.S. Information Agency. During the Cold War, the United States had tremendous information warfare capabilities courtesy of the USIA. Those are largely gone now, as the USIA was folded into the State Department and downsized years ago.

So central is Al-Jazeera in the Emir’s scheme of things that Mr. Khanfar, a Palestinian who was formerly a member of Hamas, ranks as high in the country’s hierarchical structure as the prime minister, the grand chamberlain and the head of intelligence.

ah yes another wonderful tale of mr smith goes to washington, except this mr smith is a jew hating child murdering multi billionare criminal with a tv station

I believe al Jazeera TV is a command and control apparatus on par with Hitler's High Command or any other major intelligence/propaganda/command service today. Al Jazeera certainly has the communications equipment and the stringers on the ground.

But, al Jazeera has another advantage - its cover is a legit news agency. It can freely cross state lines, setup shop, send out stringers, and film gruesome beheadings or car bombings or plant slanted stories will. The MSM repackages those stories and passes them down the chain.

It's no wonder why Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thany depends upon al Jazeera. They are an unfettered intelligence and field ops service with no equal.

If the Sheik needs to know what's happening in Iraq he calls al Jazeera. If the Sheik needs some propaganda he calls al Jazeera. If the Sheik need to know where the next bombing will occur he calls al Jazeera.

I would guess if the Sheik need somebody knocked-off he just might call al Jazeera.

If there were one entity that the CIA could glean a lot of information from - I would bet it would be al Jazeera. They seem to know when and where the next "news event" will happen - and they usually have the cameras in place to film it.

And consider: there is no American equivalent of Al Jazeera. Or a BBC.

True. I think this comes from the arrogance of America's "globalist" ruling class, with the assumption that America's principles are so self-evident and America's power is so overwhelming that there is no need to even try to convince other nations of anything. "We command, so we expect it to be done."

If Thomas Friedman says the "world is flat", the rest of us are just supposed to agree with him because he said it. If President Bush (41) says "the Cold War is over", the rest of us are just supposed to agree with him because he said it. Meanwhile, foreign language programs flounder in our universities while "political correctness studies" classes flourish. This complacency is based upon assuming that the views of foreigners don't matter, unless perhaps it is the lunacy of Franz Fanon.

America has great strengths, but its ruling class (both Democrat and Republican) is not one of them.

In WWII the allies kept a ship in the North Atlantic to provide weather reports by radio. Eventually realizing that such reports were of as much military value to the Germans as the U.S. and U.K., higher command ordered the weather reports to be encrypted.

Immediately after the encryption of the reports, the ship was sunk by a German U-boat. The meaning of this message was clear to everyone. Future reports were sent in the clear and the replacement ship was never molested again.

Considering the neighborhood he lives in, Al Jazeera is clearly the Emir's version of an unencrypted weather report. Even with U.S. aircraft and ships using his country as a way station, he will never be torpedoed as long as he keeps those valuable transmissions going.

rwe, the value of those earlier transmissions lay in their objective truth. Without arguing against your premise I might add that it would not take too much doing to transform Al Jazeera into a more trustworthy news organ than the NYTimes.

Sirius: The transmissions were valuable to those with the ability to stop them and the means was not destroyed until they lost their value.

Whether Al Jazeera would be "torpedoed" if it became "fair and balanced" is a good question. Considering the casualty rate among journalists in the Middle East - which apparently Al Jazeera does not share in - that is a vital question. The Emir - who has Westernized his country more so than almost any other ruler in the area - certainly does not wish to take that chance. After all, he is captain of the ship of state. And traditionally captains go down with the ship.

"... "I was personally shocked to find satellite channels having a field day covering the rise of a new religion in Egypt and interviewing its followers without anyone intervening," the despondent MP told parliament. Shobeir called upon parliamentary members to stand up to the spread of "superstitious dogmas".

Sheikh Abdel-Moeti Bayoumi, a prominent IRA member, explained how Bahaism contradicts the basic tenets of Islam. Bahaism reduces the five daily prayers to three, does not agree with such basic principles in Islam like hajj and jihad, changes basic personal status laws, claims that Prophet Mohamed was not the last of the messengers and that Hussein Ali, named Bahaaullah, received divine revelation to ease Islamic jurisdiction. Bahais have their own holy book called Al-Aqdas. They consider Bahaaullah a holy figure and carry out their pilgrimage to Akka where Bahaaullah lies buried.

"This is all superstitious political dogma that attempts to shake social stability," Bayoumi said. "It is all the philosophical brainchild of an ordinary person, and his followers have been notoriously used by occupation powers." ..."

The truth of the Bahai depends, it seems to rely more on perspective and faith than objective truths, at least to the Muslim Brotherhood.

They see "objective truth" as this"... The Middle East is increasingly becoming the target of colonial plans which seek to create rifts in the social fabric," El-Banna told Al-Ahram Weekly.

El-Banna regretted that "some Western powers are constantly seeking to portray Islam as biased towards women and Copts" and that now "they are creating this new problem to further establish those misconceptions in the Western mind and justify future occupation plans." El-Banna referred to similar scenarios in Darfur, Iraq and Lebanon in support of his argument and cautioned that Bahais "were notorious for being instrumental in helping the British occupation of India." ..."

"...that now "they are creating this new problem to further establish those misconceptions in the Western mind and justify future occupation plans."

Oh, no, Sir! YOU created this problem when your Muslim predecessors cruelly persecuted Baha'u'llah!YOU created this problem when YOU had the Glory of God exiled in chains to Akka, near Haifa, Israel!YOU created this problem when you ignored His call to set your people FREE, to worship God as THEY choose, not as YOU demand of them!YOU created this problem when you refused the equality of men and women!

YOU created this problem when you denied the one-ness of humankind, and set yourself above others around you!YOU created this problem when you deny Muhammad's whole ministry, PROPHECYING the Coming of Baha'u'llah, the Glory of God!

No, Sir. Those people dedicated to the Glory of God are well-wishers of whatever government they live under in this world, but they are NOT cowards, ignorant, superstitious or elitist!

Your commentary on the "Name of the Rose" reveals an excellent taste in books. The movie derived from the "Name of the Rose" staring Sean Connery bombed at the box office but was still excellent IMHO (probably too cerebral for the American audience). My wife and I have read and re-read the book and seen the movie many times (we own the DVD).

"The Name of the Rose" has many sub-plots but the movie only addressed the most superficial (the medieval Sherlock Holmes story for which Sean Connery was well casted). Unfortunately Umberto Eco has been unable to write any other book approaching the quality of "The Name of Rose" (I've found his other books to be unreadable).

At this stage in history, Information is king. That can change at any moment. If Israel is a 1 bomb state as the Iranians claim, then Qutar is a 'near miss' state. You could almost run the 6th fleet past at flank speed and let the wake wash Qutar into the gulf. They are smart though.

Concerning the movie version of "The Name of the Rose", go to this movie review web site and read the "Users Comments". For reasons beyond my understanding, "The Name of the Rose" is often referred to in English language reviews by its German name "Der Name der Rose". I first saw the movie "auf Deutsch" but could hardly understand it (my German skils were not up to the task). I then saw the English version and fell in love with it.

Yes, "objective truth" probably isn't the best term. So much depends on your perspective.

Maybe "reliable truth" could serve as a substitute. Even intransigent Arabs and Persians might like to think they were getting the straight poop. They can't be that much different than us. (Wasn't there an incident not so long ago where Al Jazeera raised the ire of Iraqis who deemed their coverage too slanted?)

Allen: I understand that Saddam Hussein used to do just that. Set up deal to sell short or bid on futures. Then lock up a radar on a patrolling aircraft or make some bombastic statement and watch the price surge. Or be concilatory toward the U.N. or the U.S. and drive the price down.Very easy for him to make a killing that way, by both creating the news and controlling part of the market.One wonders if Putin and the Iranians are not both pulling the same trick.

The US government in general funding its own BBC??? hmmm, I can just see the branches of government writing laws to keep the glorius network in line - every dang angle must be covered and they'd just tie themselves up in knots so we'd end up with what we have now - The Tony Snow show.

These forums are being phased out. The new, improved Futurism Forum is at classicalmusicforums.com.Futurism Discussion Port[Western Canon University Commons] [Western Canon University Lecture Halls][The Crow's Nest][ Classical Art and Architecture Ports]This port is devoted to a light hearted discussion centered about Futurism . Post a link to some of your work, your favorite gallery, or your thoughts regarding the best books and criticisms.

We'd also like to invite you to sail on by the Futurism Live Chat, and feel free to use the message board below to schedule a live chat. And the brave of heart shall certainly wish to sign their souls aboard The Jolly Roger.

If ye should find yerself drawn towards the sea,Take the moral comp of poetry.

# The Destruction of the Old? Is the refurbishment of the Reichstag building a new vision of an old Futurist dream? - Paul Davis 08:38:25 3/02/100

* Re: The Destruction of the Old? Is the refurbishment of the Reichstag building a new vision of an old Futurist dream? - Janet Hamilton 03:36:22 12/01/102 * Re: The Destruction of the Old? Is the refurbishment of the Reichstag building a new vision of an old Futurist dream? - k. enz 13:23:49 4/27/100

# The Destruction of the Old? Is the refurbishment of the Reichstag building a new vision of an old Futurist dream? - Paul Davis 08:27:21 3/02/100

# The Destruction of the Old? Is the refurbishment of the Reichstag building a new vision of an old Futurist dream? - Paul Davis 08:26:56 3/02/100

# The Destruction of the Old? Is the refurbishment of the Reichstag building a new vision of an old Futurist dream? - Paul Davis 08:26:16 3/02/100

For anyone interested, tonight Canada's Parliment is going to vote on their support for an extention to our contribution to Afghanistan. Currently we have a mission there that goes until 07 and we are considering extending to 09. It is unknown as to whether it will have the support of the parliment or not but it is speculated it could either not pass, or pass with a very slim minority.

For those who don't follow canadian politics, which I assume is pretty much the majority (including the majority of Canadians), right now we have a minority concervative gov't opposed by: the former ruling liberals who are just getting themselves organised for a "leadership" race, The Socialist NDP, The Bloc Quebecois which represents the interests of the Provicne of Quebec.

The Socialists are against it and instead want our troops to go to the Sudan to "Peacekeep" and the BQ doesn't really seem to give shit one way or the other except that there is little support for the Mission in Quebec. The Liberals, who were in power when the original mission was committed up to 2007 are allowing a a free vote.

They are also, however, severly pissed because they were only given 48 hours notice about the vote and therefore it seems, only 48 hours to establish a postion on it. Oh yes and they are just starting their leadership race. HAHAHhahahah. Nice move Prime Minister, very nice.

It's nice to see someone at the helm doing things to show their opposition parties for what they are. Unfortunatley I don't know what it will mean, in the bigger picture, if the vote fails garner enough supprot to pass.

I confess that I do not know the size of the Canadian Mission. I do recall the unfortunate "friendly fire" incident in 2003 where four Canadians were bombed and killed by US aircraft. However one feels about the war on terror, there is a clear western interest in dissuading a failed narco-terror from reasserting itself in Afghanistan. Let's hope the Canadians do the right, if unpopular, thing and stay the course.

I challenge you to a debate on all of the bullshit so-called 'topics' you post on this lame excuse of a 'blog.' You will automatically lose. You should be spammed with impunity with Italian Futurist BS because that is all you fucking do around here all day long. HYPOCRITICAL LYING and SPAMMING. All Staussians are by DEFAULT PATHETIC LIARS.

No, I'm not a Leftist. I'm a Christian Satanist. You, however, are just a Satanist. And a pathetic, in denial and amnesiatic Satanist at that.

Your "revolution" is here in the custody of an unwit who has adopted the handle of a professorial *ape.*

Didn't any of you "benefactors" see it coming? The "human race" was (perhaps more in your day) the category by which individuals demanded recognition; now we see it here used as a foil for the tortured designs of a dismal fool.

Treat a man as the product of evils too great to overcome, and you diminish his soul.

And at the end of that road, far better, it must seem to him, to be a gorilla. With tenure, obviously, because who wants to pick one's own grubs?

aristide,the link to the Bahai article, from Eygpt, indicates the full lack of Freedoms that would be available to minority Eygptians, like the Bahai or the Copts, under a Muslim Brotherhood dominated Government.This as opposed to Mr Mubarak's rather "slow" move to to liberalism, even if it is driven by the Courts.

Do you still believe the US should renounce it's ties to Mr Mubarak?

It seems to me that "two steps forward and one back" is better than ten steps back and twenty years of Mohammedan extremists defacing "old gods & icons" as they did in Afghanistan.

As Mr Jefferson said. "Death to Tyrants" but is Mr Mubarak a tyrant, really?

A clue in the White House?Snow was on Hewitt: He reads Hewitt, Powerline, Malkin, and Instapundit.Is organizing a blog war corps to keep up and respond.Ya think maybe it might help to get input from others than just sycophants and Texans?!!!---radioblogger.com, later

Hugo Chavez' approach is the most reliable. Buy the AK-47's, simple devices you can maintain yourself, that will reliably deliver a fearsome damage upon your enemies.

Sell the F-16', which without factory support are worthless against any of the enemies they are designed to face.

Against a dispersed enemy (like your neighbors, like yourself) in Indian country, your capability to fly these things and actually hit an appreciable number of the targets on the ground goes down by the month, as you have no ability to support training, maintenance or re-supply, and your chances of effective use is nil.

Your ability to fight these orphaned F-16's against a more sophisticated enemy than a bunch of guys w/ AK's is less than nil. So, sell the useless junkers. IFF you can sell the idea to Iran or any other enemy of the USA that they can use them any better than you can.

Go Hugo Chavez, reduce your country to every other third world military situation. Your power projection is the effective range of an AK, which is not very far.

If Iran actually accepts these Phyrric scepters of F-16's, I'll be surprised.

This is pretty bad (TBC may've already covered it elsewhere). Like the guy at LAX a couple years ago, or the Egyptian co-pilot who crashed the airliner at sea, or many others--a lone-wolf retail operation, seemingly spontaneous, by a successful, educated professional (this guy, a 29 yr old lawyer), in the flush of a good material life. It's gonna be a long decade.

(link snip)"The court is best known for its strict upholding of secular laws, in particular a ban on headscarves in universities and public offices....

Not just the range of an AK, tony, but the range of a long suppressed and frustrated population.From Boliva, to Eucuador which by their defacto actions haved joined his Club, just today.The FARC still controls large swaths of ColumbiaMr Ortega is resurgent and Mr Castro is still empowered, half a century after his major advesary was buriedMexico is dysfunctional and, as discontent and pressures increase, as the relief valve can take no more...AK's are more than enough, if there is the Will & Desire to use 'em.

'Ugo Chavez, offered cut rate heating oil to the east coast last winter via Citgo, offering cut rate oil to Europe this summer, can't supply the customers that he already has at present, signed 2 billion $ contract with Russia to provide the oil to service his customers, is staring at a statement by Saud that oil could go down to $40 bbl. This is not one stable dude. Now if you'll excuse me I think I'll go back to sleep, wake me when the war starts.

I've been looking for a drop ship and have located one at www.profitbig.com.

I would like to ask if you bloggers could take a moment and check this site out and let me know what you think. I've seen good reviews about drop ship but would like to get additional opinions about this before jumping in.